No answer.

"You are known to have threatened to play a trick on Hilary!"

Still no answer.

"Very well, Diana. Until you condescend to explain, I can't allow you to
mix with the rest of the school. We have rules here, and I intend they
shall be obeyed. I make no exception for any pupil. You're inclined to
think you have licence to do as you like, and play any pranks you choose
here. I'm going to teach you a lesson for once. You'll stay in the attic
until you choose to answer my question. I've dealt with obstinate girls
before. Come along with me!"

Miss Todd rose, and, taking a key from her desk, led the way to the
attic at the top of the little narrow staircase. The room was very
simply furnished, and was always kept in readiness as a hospital in case
any girl should be suddenly taken ill. It was not a particularly
cheerful apartment; it had a skylight window, there were no pictures on
the walls, and the floor was of scrubbed boards. It looked, as it was
intended to be, arranged with the main object of being easily
disinfected if necessary. Miss Todd ushered in Diana, and pointed to a
chair.

"You may sit there and think it over," she remarked. Then she shut the
door, and locked it on the outside.

Left alone, Diana took a seat on one of the small iron bedsteads. Her
face was a mixture of bewilderment and consternation.

"Diana Hewlitt, it seems to me you've got yourself into _some_ fix," she
said to herself. "What's puzzling me is that I can't believe the
evidence of my own eyes. Did I _dream_ I saw Loveday go downstairs and
take a roll of papers out of Hilary's desk? Goodness, I was only too
horribly awake! The queerness of the thing bothers me. It doesn't fit
in, somehow. Loveday! Loveday's the last person in the world, as I
should have thought, to do a trick like that. I can't understand it.
It's the sort of stupid thing that girls do in books. I never believed
they did it in real life. Well, one thing's certain. I'm not going to
tell about her--not if Miss Todd keeps me shut up here till I'm a
hundred. Loveday shielded me when I ran away to say good-bye to Lenox,
and I vowed I'd do the same for her if ever I got the chance. Well, I've
got it now, and no mistake. Only--Loveday! Loveday! I don't understand!
You've toppled down somehow off a pedestal. I feel as if something I
liked had got broken."

It was anything but a cheerful afternoon for Diana. The only literature
in the room was a catalogue of the